


Her Words, Drowned By Fireworks

by caseghost



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: F/F, a bit angsty, gold saucer date!, vague spoilers for The Big Spoiler of original ff7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28623807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caseghost/pseuds/caseghost
Summary: Tifa sighed, uncurling her body slightly as she relieved a bit of her dream induced anxiety. She resolved to try and enjoy tonight. She owed it to herself, right? Aerith was here in the room with her, maybe they’d be able to enjoy a quiet (or not so quiet) night to themselves for once. She smiled at the simple thought of time with her girlfriend and pressed her hands to her chest instead of her face.Everything will be fine.. Right, Aerith?
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Her Words, Drowned By Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This contains vague spoilers for both the Big Spoiler of the original Final Fantasy VII and chapter 18 of Remake!  
> This is just a little thing I put together shortly after finishing FF7R this summer (it took me so long to actually upload. I'm so sorry college kicked my ass). Was thinkin' a lot about how Remake might handle some original FF7 scenes that are yet to come anddd well I think that they should replace Cloud's Gold Saucer date with Aerith and Tifa's. Enough said! In all seriousness though hope you enjoy this little thing! Thanks so much for taking a look!

“Shut up!” 

The view through Tifa’s eyes was obscured, but by what she could not tell. It might’ve been.. tears?

“..don’t mean a thing. Aerith is-”

Words were flowing into Tifa’s ears, but in a broken way, getting chopped up, cut off and drowned, as if they were coming from underwater. That voice.. she knew that voice so well. It was Cloud.

“... no longer talk, no longer laugh, no longer cry-”

What was he talking about? Why couldn’t she see? She tried to blink away whatever was in front of her eyes, but she couldn’t.

“..what are WE supposed to do?”

Had she ever heard him that upset before? Cloud sounded so upset it made Tifa’s heart ache. Come to think of it, her entire body ached with a pain she remembered feeling once.. or maybe.. twice before. It was a pain that emanated straight from the heart, curled around every muscle, and tied her down, unable to think or move at all.

“What is this pain?” Cloud said, voice seconds away from breaking.

Suddenly, Tifa’s vision cleared up for a split second. The sound of roaring water beat against her ears, so loud that she wanted to clamp her hands around her head and scream. But she wasn’t in control of her hands. All she could do was watch the scene in front of her, a scene that didn’t feel like it was happening to her so much as it felt like watching a screen.

The scene- Aerith’s face, gentle and sweet as always, eyes closed. Tifa watched as a hand stretched out, a hand she could tell was definitely hers by the familiar glove. Her hand was shaking. She reached up and ran her trembling fingers through the honey brown bangs that framed Aerith’s face so perfectly. But something was wrong. Aerith didn’t react at all. No tiny giggle, no emerald eyes creased in a smile, no reaching out to stroke Tifa’s hair back the way she usually would. Tifa felt a pain like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

And she woke up crying.

Tifa sat up in bed and buried her face in her hands, tears seeping through the tiny gaps in her fingers. 

_ The same dream again,  _ she thought, and then instinctively hugged her knees close to her chest. Ever since that night on the highway where she’d fought to defeat fate itself, a disconcerting dream had been visiting her at least a couple times a week. Unintelligibly vague at first, it had started to get clearer and clearer the more she saw it. Today’s was the clearest yet, and it filled Tifa with the worst sense of dread possible. 

_ That was.. Aerith, wasn’t it? D… _

Tifa couldn’t even bring herself to finish the thought. She pushed her hands harder against her face, muffling a shaky sniffle. She couldn’t let herself break down here, not now. Or anywhere, or any time, for that matter. The group had been expectedly busy since they’d ventured away from Midgar, but even so, it was more than Tifa had ever bargained for. There was just so much to think about. Sephiroth being the most pressing threat, but at the same time Shinra was still going after them, the Whispers were pushing them along or intervening every now and then, and most worrying of all to Tifa, Cloud’s episodes were becoming more frequent. She felt like she hardly had time to take a breath. She tried to seem like she could handle it, handle the constant need to be ready to attack, defend, or support whoever needed it. But really, it was getting to her.

As she calmed down though, Tifa tried to remind herself of where she was: a place meant to take a breath for once. The group had taken a detour to the Gold Saucer, a flashy, expensive amusement park that had just happened to contain the Keystone they needed to enter the Temple of the Ancients. Cloud had already done his rounds in the battle square and won the Keystone, but then, almost as if the universe was screaming at them to take a break, the ropeway back to North Corel had broken down. As much as the urgency of their quest to get to the temple weighed down on them, the gang had no choice but to stay at the inn for the night and wait. Since they’d arrived early in the day, it wasn’t quite time to head to bed yet, and they’d all split up to check out various corners of the Gold Saucer or do whatever they liked. Despite the time of day though, Tifa had unknowingly passed out for a nap almost as soon as her head had hit the admittedly comfy hotel bed. 

_ Guess I’m even more exhausted than I thought. _

Tifa sighed, uncurling her body slightly as she relieved a bit of her dream induced anxiety. She resolved to try and enjoy tonight. She owed it to herself, right? Aerith was here in the room with her, maybe they’d be able to enjoy a quiet (or not so quiet) night to themselves for once. She smiled at the simple thought of time with her girlfriend and pressed her hands to her chest instead of her face. 

_ Everything will be fine.. Right, Aerith? _

  
  


Aerith leaned close to the vanity mirror in the hotel bathroom, her eyebrows knitting together as she prepared for the herculean task of putting on eyeliner. She had never been very good at this sort of thing, never really seeing a point to bothering with a full face of makeup during her day to day life down in the slums. But now that she had a girlfriend to impress, one as beautiful and sexy and hot as Tifa, it mattered very much to her. 

“Damn.. I wish I had picked up some tips from Madam M at least..” she muttered to herself, recalling the time the woman had helped her get ready for Don Corneo’s mansion. Unfortunately, the only thing Aerith’s lesbian mind had been able to take away from that experience were very gay thoughts about being taken care of by a hot older woman.

She sighed and put the eyeliner pen down on the counter, straightening out to look at herself. As she stood there in her underwear, she glanced over at the ruffled pink dress she’d draped over a corner of the counter. She was planning on taking Tifa on a surprise date tonight. Goddess knows the girl needed it. It was no secret to Aerith, despite how much she tried to mask it, how stressed Tifa was. Deep down, Aerith felt a little guilty. For everyone’s sake, really. Aerith was the one who’d shattered what Cloud, Barret, and Tifa thought they knew of their reality that night when the Whispers swallowed up the Shinra tower. Leading them all to fight destiny, a destiny that despite the visions she’d seen, she still doubted. The cries of the planet were getting louder, hurting her ears during even the most mundane moments. And there was also the voice of a person instead of a planet- Zack. Aerith could feel that he was alive, yet he was nowhere in sight. Person and planet haunted her, along with the feeling of a tragic destiny she was leading them all towards like a sick puppet master. Not tragic for them perhaps, but for her.. Aerith just had the sense that despite her efforts for a better future, that future would not come without a deep pain. Maybe pain was all she was really meant to bring, in the end.

Aerith shook her head, suddenly aware of the trail of dark thoughts that she’d led herself down. She delivered a quick slap to her cheeks. She couldn’t be doing this now. She had to be happy, for Tifa’s sake. She wasn’t going to cause any more pain, not tonight. Aerith huffed a breath of determination and equipped herself with the mighty eyeliner pen once again. She leaned into the mirror, felt herself begin to sweat, and carefully pressed the slick coldness of the pen against one closed eyelid. It was sliding along steadily enough when, out of the corner of her free eye, Aerith saw a ragged cloud of grey pass through the wall behind her, one she instantly recognized.

_ A Whisper..? What is it doing h- _

In a split second Aerith realized all at once what was beyond that wall.

_ Tifa. _

“Shit!” Aerith hissed at both a sense of urgency and a knee jerk reaction that had caused her to whip the eyeliner pen away from her face, streaking it down her cheek. She didn’t know why she was so nervous every time she saw one these days. She understood the Whispers, but at the same time.. she didn’t. Aerith just couldn’t shake the possibility of the looming tragedy she’d been feeling for weeks not being fated for herself, but for the one she loved the most. And she’d change a thousand fates, good or bad, if it would keep Tifa safe.

Aerith flung open the bathroom door and skidded the short distance outside of it to the general area of their hotel room. There she saw Tifa, black hair disheveled like she’d just woken up, sitting up in bed hugging her knees to her chest. Their eyes met, and then Aerith’s darted around the room. No Whispers in sight.

“Aerith?” Tifa rasped with a just-woke-up kind of voice, then hurriedly cleared her throat.

Aerith sat down on the bed and put her hands on Tifa’s knees.

“Are you alright?” she asked urgently.

“Hm?” Tifa looked down as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

It was the kind of answer that they both knew was a lie, the kind that most of the party would give to the question these days. None of them were really okay, but there was no time not to be. Aerith tried to reach into Tifa’s lowered eyes, and wondered if she should push the question. It was a delicate and breakable balance- caring about someone this deeply. Knowing there’s something wrong but stepping carefully around it in case you couldn’t fix it, in case it was too painful. It made Aerith’s heart ache.

Tifa distracted from the question before too long though, with a glance up at Aerith and a smile like she was trying not to laugh.

“What about you? Are you okay?”

Aerith blinked and picked up a piece of her bangs to twirl around her fingers casually. “Of course I am! What makes you think I’m not?”

“This, silly,” Tifa touched a rough hand to Aerith’s cheek and displayed the black smudge that it left on her fingers when she took it away. “And, well.. this too.” Tifa gently snapped a strap of Aerith’s bra, trying to keep up a playfully sexy act while the red blush that dusted her ears told Aerith how she really felt.

Aerith flopped down on her belly, strategically showing off her butt in her cute pink panties. 

“Ohhhh no! You got me! I’ve been had!” Aerith dramatically lamented. “I was trying to get myself all gussied up so that I might ask the lovely Lady Lockhart on a surprise date but it seems… my makeup skills are lackluster and it was all for naught! Forgive me!”

Aerith planted her head down between her arms on the bed, muffling her last cry of forgiveness begging.

“A.. date?” Tifa asked slowly. Aerith could see Tifa’s wide eyes nervously glancing over her body from the corner of her eye and smiled mischievously. Tifa was fun to tease.

But what Aerith didn’t expect was Tifa’s strong hands on her hips gently rolling her over until she was on her back, looking up at Tifa leaning over her, their chests touching. This time it was Aerith’s turn to turn red.

“Honey.. you know I'd go on a date with you any time," Tifa smiled as she unintentionally performed a push up, pecking Aerith's lips on the way down. "You don't need makeup or anything! I," another kiss dusted Aerith's lips, with more coming in between each word. "Just.. need.. you!"

Aerith couldn't help but burst into a fit of floaty giggles as she covered her face. "Oh, you big show off! You stole MY asking you out on a date moment!"

Tifa grinned mischievously and settled her arms down on the bed, only for them to reach behind Aerith and scoop her right up, bridal style.

"Heyyy!" Aerith beat her fists weakly against Tifa's chest. "Put me down!"

"Sorry, princess," Tifa said in a sing-song voice. "We've got a date to get ready for!"

  
  


About an hour later, Tifa felt her stomach do a flip as a shiny gold elevator carried her and Aerith down to the main floor of the Gold Saucer. The girls had debated over what to wear for a while (admittedly spending most of the "getting ready time" goofing around together). They both wanted to see each other in formal wear again, but due to unfortunate associations with The Freak Of Wall Market, their dresses kind of still smelling like sewer water, and the sheer discomfort of walking around in heels, they decided to pass on that for now. Instead, they settled on their usual outfits minus the heavy armor. Tifa felt a light presence on her left arm and looked down to see Aerith hooking her own arm around it. Tifa smiled fondly and then turned her attention to the slowly creaking open elevator doors. It looked like there was already some fun beginning.

Cloud and the rest of the party were gathered in the lobby, and they appeared to be having a very animated discussion.

"Pleeeeeease Cloud," Yuffie pleaded, trying her best to make puppy eyes at him but coming off more like a scarily intense stare.

Cloud was wearing his usual quiet glare, arms crossed as he shrugged Yuffie's hand off his shoulder. "For the last time, no."

"Hey guys!" Aerith waved as she picked up the pace and pulled Tifa over to the group along with her. "What's going on here?"

"Yuffie saw a rare materia she doesn't have at the prize booth," Red XIII explained as he brushed up against Aerith's legs. Aerith patted him gently on the nose.

"And now she's trying to recruit Cloud to help her win points to get it," Barret continued the explanation, lowering his sunglasses to make eye contact.

Cloud glanced at Tifa with a "God Please Help Me" look in his eyes. Tifa smiled helplessly back.

"Seriously Yuffie, I'm a soldier, not a gambler," he sighed.

"But that's exactly my point!" Yuffie jumped in excitement. "Skeeball's basically like going to war, right?"

Barret burst out laughing.

"Wh- no! No it's not!" Cloud broke his cool demeanor for a second, and despite his exasperation Tifa could sense a hint of a smile. "I'm tired from the battle square already. Can't you ask Vincent?"

Vincent, who Cloud called attention to, had been busy making himself virtually invisible despite his red cloak. Everyone in the group was suddenly aware of him now though. 

"What is.. skeeball?" Vincent inquired, his deep tone completely serious.

"Ugh," Cloud said, slapping a palm to his face while the rest of the group laughed.

"Cloooud," Aerith hummed. "Help her out! She's only a kid! You wouldn't betray a kid after I watched you help allll those kids at the orphanage, would you?"

"Aerith. Don't start blackmailing m-" Cloud started.

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" Yuffie interjected.

"Seriously though, Cloud," Tifa grabbed his hand. "You deserve to have a little fun."

Cloud's piercing eyes stared hesitantly back at her before softening into the smile his mouth would not show.

"Fine," he huffed. "But don't expect me to win you a million points or anything."

"Yes!!" Yuffie celebrated. "C'mon c'mon c'mon, let's go already!" She grabbed his hand and tugged on it with, judging by Cloud's expression, more force than he expected a 16 year old to have.

"You better save some extra points for me to buy Marlene a present!" Barret grinned, clapping a hand on Cloud's back.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Cloud craned his neck behind himself to scowl at Barret's beaming smile.

Tifa and Aerith fell into a fit of giggles as they watched the group walk away, Vincent tagging along at a distance because he apparently really did want to find out what skeeball was. Tifa smiled thoughtfully as Cloud left. She knew without a doubt that this was the kind of thing he'd complain about at first, but actually get way too into by the end.

"So, what's up with you two ladies?" Red XIII, who had stayed behind, asked. "Plans for the evening?"

"Yes indeed," Aerith chirped as she gently stroked his ears. "We're going on a date!"

"H-hey, Aerith!" Tifa stuttered. A wave of embarrassment washed over her. They'd never officially announced to the rest of the party that they were dating. She guessed it didn't  _ really  _ matter, but couldn't stop herself from feeling a certain amount of.. desire to keep it secret? She felt stupid for even thinking that; it was nothing to be ashamed of. But still, whether it was a result of her own shyness or.. maybe even the dreams she'd been having lately? Tifa wanted to keep Aerith for herself forever, as if she were the last flower she'd found blooming in a desert.

"Aw, it's alright," Red seemed to console her. "Don't think that I can't pick up on the way you look at each other. My eyes can see better than a human's, y'know."

"S-sorry," Tifa blushed, feeling herself try to sink into the floor more out of shame for her own thoughts than anything else.

"No need to apologize, sweetheart," Aerith pulled Tifa back out of the quicksand of the floor with her words.

Red smiled, flashing his sharp canines. "Well, I shouldn't keep ya then. You two have fun out there! I'll let ya know if anything funny happens in the skeeball tournament." He turned tail and went to join the others.

"Thanks, Red!" Aerith called out. She then turned to Tifa with sparkling green eyes. "So, where should we start?"

  
  
  


“No way! I can’t believe we just did that!” Tifa was slowly being colored in a rosy pink as she buried her face in her hands.

Aerith was absolutely giddy as she nudged herself up against Tifa, making themselves smaller within the crowd of people streaming out of the Event Square. “You were soooo hot though! Ahh, my knight in shining armor! Catch me!” Aerith mimed falling over into Tifa’s arms as Tifa hurriedly tore her hands away from her own face to catch her.

“But in front of all those people?” Tifa still moaned, although a hint of the same giddy smile Aerith wore was beginning to creep onto her face. “Seriously, whose idea was it to just select a random couple to perform a play on the spot? That’s so embarrassing!”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Aerith tutted. “It wasn’t random though. We were the  _ hundredth _ couple to walk in that day. The gay gods smiled upon us, Tifa.”

Tifa finally gave in, burying herself in Aerith’s neck with a warm sigh. “I guess they did, huh?”

Gods, Aerith wanted to kiss her right then and there. But then she spotted something that took her attention away from Tifa somehow, if only for just a moment. 

“Oh! Hun, look! Gondolas! Do you wanna go on them?”

“Mm?” Tifa almost sleepily looked up from Aerith’s shoulder. “Sure, if you’re up for it! I’m a bit scared of heights, though…”

Aerith grabbed Tifa’s hands and folded them against her own. “Don’t worry, I’d never let you fall! I promise.”

Tifa’s dark eyes were soothed as they made their way over to the ticket counter, but Aerith’s green heart hesitated, remembering the whispers from earlier. Was she lying? Could she really protect Tifa in the face of… all of this?

  
  
  


Tifa’s hands started to shake as the gondola began to rise higher in the chilling night air, but not because of the fear of heights that she’d claimed to have. Well, she did have that, a bit. But mostly, the thought of her night with Aerith coming to an end was reminding her of another sour thought in her mind. The thoughts of her life with Aerith coming to an end, the ones that had been infecting her dreams for so long now. Part of her wondered if she should say something. No, she couldn’t, that would ruin the fun date. But at the same time, these thoughts that were choking her brain and the words that were filling her throat felt like something she would never be able to say again if she didn’t say it now. 

Tifa opened her mouth to speak, but found that a second inhaled breath filled the small cabin in addition to hers. She looked up. Across from her, Aerith also looked like she was beginning to speak. The two stared at each other, frozen. 

“Oh, sorry,” Tifa habitually tucked a hair behind her ear.

“No, no,” Aerith waved her hand. “You go ahea-”

She was interrupted by a surrounding boom. The lovers instinctively turned their heads to the clear glass window of the gondola. The midnight blue of the night sky was stained with a splatter of orange color. Fireworks. As they reflected in Tifa’s eyes, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Below the umbrella of flashing colors, the world seemed to stretch on forever. In the distance, Tifa swore she could see Midgar, or what was left of it, at least. Even farther out, an indistinct mountain stood out on the skyline like a horrible blemish. The sight of it made her stomach turn for a reason she did not know. In this moment, Tifa realized that this world, the world she was fighting for, was so, so beautiful. But the girl she was fighting for was even more beautiful. And she couldn’t leave words to that girl unspoken.

“Aerith,” Tifa tried to speak louder than the continuing fireworks. “I’ve been having these dreams… dreams about you.”

Aerith turned away from the window and centered all of her attention on Tifa. Tifa could feel the weight of those eyes. 

“I don’t.. really understand what’s going on in them, but… I just have the most horrible feeling that something awful is going to happen to you.”

  
  
  


Tifa’s words made Aerith’s eyes want to spring into a waterfall of tears. It was almost as if her suspicions had been confirmed, the doubts of destiny that haunted her were coming true. She didn’t want to believe it. But she felt like she had to. And she had to choose her words carefully. It felt like an unwinnable game, and Aerith didn’t want to play anymore. She didn’t want to be a set piece in the future of the world anymore. She just wanted to be a girl, simply in love with a girl. But she knew she couldn’t be this. And she knew what she had to do was protect Tifa, and the others, even at the cost of herself. She had a job to do at the end of this.

“Tifa, I… I’m so sorry,” Aerith began, stepping onto the battlefield of this conversation. “It’s probably because of the whispers. Can’t go changing destiny without some side effects, I suppose.”

“But they don’t have to be right, right?” Tifa leaned forward, almost losing her balance in the still moving vehicle. “We changed destiny once already, didn’t we? It’s not going to be this way, right? You’re not going to…”

Aerith watched Tifa trail off, and she watched the uncertainty and fear and love in her face. She couldn’t lie to her like this, but was it really a lie if you didn’t know the truth? 

“I don’t know for certain, honey,” Aerith said, and was quickly interrupted with Tifa taking her hands. Those hands were so weathered, so rough.

“It can’t happen!” Tifa’s voice broke. “I’m going to protect you, Aerith! Until my last breath, I want to fight for you, and the kindness that you’ve shown me!”

Aerith felt her eyes widen as she felt her heart open at the same time. The thought of her being someone worth protecting, to this degree, made a solitary tear dance down her cheek.

  
  
  


Another firework blossomed overhead, reds and pinks mixing together in a pool of light. The sound reverberated through the metal framework of the gondola and the bones of all the people riding it, a reminder of the structure of life. In the midst of the wondrous chaos, two sentences were lost.

“Aerith, please don’t leave me.”

“Tifa, I don’t want to.”

It seemed insignificant to think that their lips together outlined by the fireworks that would drown any words could make a difference in the fates they were bound to. But for the length of the burst of that last firework of the night, it seemed like it might.


End file.
